Be With You
by SpaceRanger
Summary: I wish I did not have to leave you... but don't worry. Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu... I'm Coming to See You Now...
1. Present Day, 14 years later

**DISCLAIMER: **_All of the Disney characters in this fic are not mine although I wish they were. I'm also borrowing the idea and storyline from the movie and book by the same name called "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu". The book is by Takuji Ichikawa and the movie (and later the TV series as well) are both based on the book.__ Hope you enjoy! Comments and complaints welcomed:-)_

**Author's Note:**_ There will be mentions of Males Loving Males, Trans-genders, Males Loving Females, Hermaphrodites, and Females Loving Females throughout this story, so **if you DO NOT like anything I've listed, please hit the back button now!**_

_My inspiration for writing once again came from listening to songs. "Amazing" by SEAL, "_盖世英雄(_Gai Shi Ying Xiong_)" _by_ 王力宏 _(Wang Lee Hom), and many others seem to appease my muses into wiping the dust from my creative platform. What ideas they gave me __came together as a crossover story around Fall 2007. However, one of the muses (I don't remember who--probably Wade or Rufus) says to me, "You know, we've cut out a lot of scenes--let's recycle them for a second story." One thing lead to another, and soon the other muses voted on ditching the crossover for this and I can't say I've regretted it._

_This is the first time I am attempting to write in present tense as well as a kinda __action/romance/adventure/drama _genre, so if you pick up some errors, do not hesitate to drop me a line and let me know.

**Timeline:** _I apologize ahead of time for this but please assume that the Kim Possible Canon Universe is something a little further into the future and that this story starts about 14 years past that._

i

**" Be with You "**

**By SpaceRanger**

i

-------- -------- --- Prologue --- -------- --------

"Is that them?" He hears an unfamiliar female voice behind him asks in a low murmur.

"Yes." A second female voice acknowledges.

"The poor children... on the week of their birthday as well." A third female voice says.

"Hush!" A fourth hisses. "You're--"

"Don't hush us. And you, you shouldn't waste your pity those children. You know as well as I do that the fault lies with the fact that those children-" A fifth scoffs.

There is a growl from one of the women.

"Don't say that!" The second voice whispers angrily.

"You all know you were thinking it too." The first voice whispers back. "They're sick letting those devil incarnates live, I'm surprised that it took them that long to kill - "

"If the five of you are here for no other a reason other then criticizing the dead, I think it would be in your best interest to leave now before I throw you out." He spits out in a cold manner that shuts up the chattering women. Being the rich aristocratic vulture bitches that the five women probably are, he knew that in their minds they were scoffing at how rude he had been to them and 'He can't talk to me like that! Doesn't he know who I am?!'

He clinches his fists so hard that his knuckles turns white and he fights equally hard against the instinct within to tear into them, beating them into a bloody heap.

_Think of the children. Think of the children Dammit!_ He growls to that instinct. None of children gathered here deserves the trauma of violent adults added to the trauma that came from this memorial. _Especially **them**_.

By them he is referring to the two children of the one the memorial is suppose to honor and it is they he is to protect. His eyes drifts toward their hiding spot within the shades of the trees about 5 feet from where he is standing in order to protect themselves from the public eyes. Eyes and cameras that are everywhere even though this was to be privately held. He turns his anger from the people who were cut from the same cloth as Rockwaller sisters to a certain International Police Organization, Global Justice.

They who are suppose to keep this "event" sectioned off to invited parties only. It seems to him that GJ's definition of "invited parties only" means invited parties plus 200 other guests who just happen to be rich, snobby, and unfortunately not a villain he's allowed to punch. The droning of speeches from these bastards and bitches alike are what's dragging out something that should've only have been ONE hour to something that's about to reach it's SIXTH hour because everyone had something NOT important to say about the one the memorial is being held for.

Even the super villains had more heart than the goddamn civilians when it came time for them to say something and it is this knowledge that has him wanting to crack some civilian heads on the walls until the world made sense again.

Maybe it was the fact that that it was now approaching the seventh hour or maybe it was the fact that he was leveling his glare at the host of this memorial. Either way, having said host finally step up to end the memorial was enough for him to slowly unclench his fist. Taking a deep breath he lets it out slowly, counting backward from 3000 to 0 as he repeated his breathing process.

He checks his watch again then looks around with a frown. He is more than ready to get the hell out of here but he isn't allowed leave until the last 'guest' is out. He restrains himself from glaring at the slow moving guests knowing from experience that his glare on civilians tend to freeze them in fear instead of making them leave faster.

Despite his restraint, the last of the lingering crowd did not disappear until as the stars return to the night sky. Still, the fact that they were finally gone allows him to relax from the tense state he had been hold in all day. He steps forward toward the children but stops when he hears the familiar footsteps of his once partner and mother to those children crunching through the fallen leaves. He makes himself stand as still as a statue so that he would not startle her as the two children slowly tilted their head up to look up at the female figure. Their mother nods in acknowledgment as she draped two small blankets over the only two children left at the memorial.

It is because of where he is standing that he could hear them when they began to speak.

"Ready to go?"

Both children hesitates a little before nodding slowly at her. It is with this same motion that they stand up, clinging to their respective books and blankets. Ronald Stoppable's heart cries for their loss as she takes their tiny hands into hers and leads them out of the memorial park silence.

_Countdown: 5 days_

* * *

-------- -------- --- Chapter 1 --- -------- --------

It is a small house out in the middle of no where. On the outside, it looks more like a rundown shack. To the occupants of the house, that is just fine with them. What the shack hides within is a simple but beautifully furnished home.

The only activity in this home is at what the occupants within calls "Floor Two." The floor plan for this floor shows two bedrooms, and a bathroom/shower area, a living room, and the kitchen.

The kitchen right now is the most active of all the rooms due to the hurried and desperate pace of the woman dressed in a blue jumpsuit at the stove. She moves in a slight jerky manner as if occasionally remembering something and is drawn to try to follow through but refrains from doing so in favor of quickly putting eggs, bacon, and toast onto each one of the 4 plates. All of which are slightly burnt with the exception of the egg that she is now putting to the plate that can be defined as a raw-ish sunny side up. The other three plates showed the same as the first except with different textures. One of the plate had an egg where the yolk is flattened into the white, the second is completely scrambled with cheese on top, and the last is so lightly scrambled that you can still see the whites.

The woman quickly sets the last plate to the table just as the pattering of two pairs of tiny feet, one pair slightly larger than the other, running toward the table set up just a little ways from the cooking area.

"Morning Momma!" The two young voices chorus, as they hurry to their seats. The woman looks up from her work and smiles at them briefly before going back to their breakfast.

"Morning kids. I'm sorry for being late."

"It's fine." The two chorused again. The woman goes to the light switch and flips on the kitchen lights when she finally notices that it had gotten darker. The light reveals the two children, a boy and a girl with the same black hair as their mother except without the green shine. The pale skinned 6 year old boy is dressed in an opened short-sleeves button up shirt with a blue etching 'Can' on the pocket and cargo pants and heating up the raw-ish egg concoction at her right with his plasma powers. At her left she has a slightly tanned 4 year old girl dressed in a pink tank top with a green 'Is' etching and black shorts and eating the eggs with cheese. The woman let the light shine on her showing pale green skin as she sat down where the lightly scrambled egg is while keeping an eye on her son to be sure that he didn't end up burning plasma through the ceiling.

A proud smile licks at the edge of her mouth when the egg goes from raw to being cooked completely (she stabs it with her own fork to be sure, drawing a cry of protest from her son when she takes a chunk from it) and (after she lets her son 'steal' the same chunk from her own breakfast by pretending to read the newspaper while she is eating) then gets covered by ketchup. Iskra giggles as she watches her family's antics which allows Shego to wink at her daughter, setting the little girl off again. Comfortable silence fell on the home again, the only sound being from fork hitting the plates and the occasional turning of the newspaper. Shego had just finished reading the Sports section when she feels a tug on her right sleeve.

"Momma?" Shego looks up from her newspaper at her daughter's voice and realizes that it is now completely silent even though neither child's plate are empty. Instead Iskra is looking down at the plate, her hand still on her sleeve and Kaine is poking at his food.

"Is it our fault that Daddy died?" Shego straightens in her chair and looks over at both children's sullen expressions with a frown.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Some ladies were talking about it at the memorial." Is Kaine's reply and the green-skinned woman holds back a growl of annoyance.

"No it's not your fault at all. Those people are just talking s--crap as usual. Ignore them." This seems to appease the children so the topic isn't brought up again much to Shego's relief.

Light conversation between the three slowly drives away the gloom at the table as talks drifted to the talent show (for the boy) and Show-and-Tell (for the girl). By the time talks about their respective homeworks began, the gloom is gone. It is really easy to get a 4 year old to talk about her homework (which consist of a page from her coloring and handwriting books). The 6 year old, on the other hand, is a bit of a harder shell to crack since his only interest is in devouring his meal instead of answering questions about his homework (which consist of reading and filling in blanks in a workbook).

"DOY!!!" The girl screams in horrified realization, startling the boy into spilling his Orange Juice on the floor. "Kaine forgots! Aunty Betty!"

"DOY!!!" The boy, Kaine, screams in equal horrified realization, his Orange Juice long forgotten. "Aunt Betty called while you were in the showers last night! She says she's sorry but she needs you back for 4 more hours today and would like you to go over the uh... the case that you were suppose to start tomorrow but because someone is bending rules, you have to prepare before... well, around 45 minutes from now."

"What?! Kaine! Iskra! Why do you two always wait until morning to tell me these things?!" Shego asks tensing up to quickly scoop her breakfast together for a sandwich. Kaine looks at his toast sadly and gives it up to Shego with a tearful look on his face. This would be the fifth time he had to give up his beloved toast this week. Taking pity on her forgetful brother, Iskra splits her toast in half and gave the larger piece to him.

"I'm sorry, I meant to say something yesterday, but... I forgot." Not having the energy to argue since she's been awake for over 27 hours Shego only sighs and says.

"Just... leave a note next time as soon as she calls okay?"

"Okay Momma."

"Anything else?" The two children pondered in thought as Shego stuck her breakfast in a Ziplock bag and jolted a note under the shopping list for more Ziplock bags before slipping it inside her uniform.

"DOY!!!" Iskra screams again. "Kaine 'pose to feed Rufus T-W-O this morning!" Kaine's eyes widen in horror at the mention of the beloved mascots of the GJ pre-K and elementary school, Middleton branch.

"We're leaving NOW!" He slides out of his chair and struggles a bit with lifting his backpack to slinging it over his shoulders while Iskra runs off to grab lunch from the counter. Kaine grabs Iskra's hand and they ran out of the house, neither of them looking back in their rush to attend to the naked mole rats. Rather, they would have if two long green arms had not stop them by engulfing the two in a hug.

"And where do you brats think you're going?"

"Awww Mo-om! I'm a big boy now, hugs not necessary." Shego scoffs and ruffles the boy's hair in retaliation of his remark.

"Humor me Brat Number One."

"Me too Momma! Me too!" The older woman laughs and with a fond "Alright, Brat Number Two" she ruffles her daughter's newly cut hair as well. With a kiss to each of their foreheads she pats them on their shoulders and shoves them toward the road. "Now you can go."

"Have a good day Momma!" The two chorus, waving at her before running out the house.

Shego watches them leave from the kitchen window and when she can no longer see them, she allows herself to slump against the counter tiredly. After a few seconds, she straightens herself and moves forth to gather up all the plates except the plain fried egg which she throws into the refrigerator, coverless. The plates are gently placed into the sink that is filled to the brim with dishes, and she began to clean the floor of the Orange Juice in the way of someone who had never cleaned the floor before.

She rubbed a few spots with several paper towels before tossing the plastic blue cup with its pink companion into the sink which she rinsed for a few seconds, dabbling at them with a sponge before putting it in the wired basket set so that any access water returned to the sink. A quick glance at the clock had her ignoring the plates she hadn't 'washed.' She curses loudly as she struggles to get a ketchup stain from the right cuff of her uniform. Her efforts does not give her a reward, for she only succeeded in making the cuff wet.

She gives up on the attempt and rushes to the refrigerator door filled with Post-It notes to make sure that her "home duties" are done and takes away the orange ones marked Breakfast, send Children to school, and-. A car honks loudly in front of the house and she dropped the Post-Its in favor of hurrying to the door. The green woman called out a quick good-bye as she rushed past a couple of pictures hanging on the wall that overlooked the dining table but blinded by the reflection of light. She shuts (and locks) the door behind her and runs toward the car where the driver is using the car horn to play "Pop goes the weasel."

If it was any other day, she would've been trying to tear said drivers head off. But it wasn't and so she sits in the back of the car where she looks out the window and stares into the weeping sky with tired eyes...

It has been 14 years now.

12 years since Shego stopped being a villain/sidekick

6 years since the day of their wedding as well as the year Kaine was born.

4 years since Iskra was born.

1 year since she joined GJ.

And 5 months since they officially announced--

Shego finally succumbs to her exhaustion, her eyes sliding closed in the process.

_Countdown: 3 days_

* * *

**A/N 2:** &_Sigh...& It is to my complete annoyance that the movie has been licensed for America re-filming. It's not the fact that it's being brought over that I don't like, it's the fact that they had to do it just as I came up with this storyline._

_Therefore, I will be trying, to get a few more chapters of this story out before the movie hits theaters. Just something to note, I will be borrowing many elements from the movie and TV show "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu" not the book. Oh, I almost forgot, Kaine and Iskra belongs to me. If you want to borrow their names, just drop me a line._

_That's it for now. I don't really know when I'll update next but I've got a few lines to the second part of Chapter One started so it shouldn't be for another month... maybe. We'll see... I would just like to ask you to please be patient with me and drop me a line if you see any problems. _


	2. T minus 3

**DISCLAIMER:**_All of the Disney characters in this fic are not mine although I wish they were. I'm borrowing the idea and storyline from the movie and book by the same name called "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu". The book is by Takuji Ichikawa and the movie (and later the TV series as well) are both based on the book. I'm also borrowing Adam Park and Tanya Sloan both of whom belongs to Saban Entertainment for the duration of this story. Kaine and Iskra, however, belongs to me. Hope you enjoy! Comments and complaints welcomed:-)_

**Author's Note:**_ Wow... I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't get any sort of review for this fic at all for the last chapter, even though it's just a set up chapter. I'm not sure if that means that my writing skills are that good, because it's that bad, or something else. As for the story, I was listening to songs "Weathered" by Creed & "Sweet Surrender"_ _by Sarah McLachlan when I wrote this chapter, so it's going to get a little depressing. For those of you who are wiry of the slight crossover, don't worry, they aren't really important to plot, I just don't see Shego as a diary/journal type person... do you?_

_This is the first time I am attempting to write in present tense as well as a kinda action/romance/adventure/drama genre, so if you pick up some errors, do not hesitate to drop me a line and let me know._

**Timeline:** _I apologize ahead of time for this but please assume that the Kim Possible Canon Universe is something a little further into the future and that this story starts about 14 years past that and 2 days have passed since the Prologue scene._

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**"**** Be with You ****"**

**By SpaceRanger**

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The day passes slowly for the family of three but that was because today is Friday, the last day before the weekend begins. The only thing they want to do is stare at the clock, ticking down the hours to freedom.

The children didn't end up staring at their clocks too long though. They are 6 and 4 year olds after all. Their teachers are able to distract them to the point that they forgot about the clock entirely in lieu of the activity within their classrooms. The adult, however, has been too busy reading, putting together her squad list, plus whatever else she needs for the 11:00am case meeting with Agent Will Du and Dr. Director that the last time she looked at the clock was before she left for work.

As it is per nature, a 5 hour day ultimately came to feel like 10. But now, there are no more complaints because it's 1:00pm and "day jobs" for Kaine, Iskra, and Shego are officially over...

Not!

While it is true that the kids _are_ done with classes and the adult with work, they are still at their respective "jobs" even as the students and staff around them are streaming out like dam water does upon the opening of the gates.

For Kaine and Iskra, the makers of the cheerful chattering and occasional squeaking sounds of "cheeze!" are the reasons why they are still there. It's Kaine's turn to take care of Rufus Two and Rufus Junior -- clone and son of Rufus (also known as Ron Stoppable's pet naked mole rat) respectively -- for the weekend. Therefore, it is up to him to clean and gather up the water bowls, toys, etc. in preparation for the trip home. He smiles at the happy chattering duo who easily forgave him for nearly forgetting his duty to feed them as they entertained his sister with their antics.

For Shego, her reason for staying over isn't as fun. She is still in a drab conference room where worried tension fills the room despite the arguing with Will over the case file that Betty is frowning at as she flips through the papers in the green and black folder in her hand.

In a broken down and deserted farm house further away from where Kaine, Iskra, and Shego call home, lighting flashes ominously once, then twice behind a rusty door within.

"Oh fuck..."

At the GJ conference room, Shego's vision begins to warp everything around her. Less than two seconds later, she can only feel her head spin and hear the dull sound of her body hitting the floor as she lost control of the rest of her body.

* * *

-------- -------- --- Chapter 2 --- -------- --------

The sunlight streams through the sky, breaking up the darkness and bathing the town in warmth that it had been missing since this morning. Yet it is not the reason that the prone figure occupying the bed from one of two bedrooms in a home clinic is stirring awake, especially since the sunlight couldn't penetrate far past the curtain barrier. The figure's green arm reaches out to the right side of the bed to try to clutch at something only to hit empty space. This stirs the sleeper into opening her eyes and look around.

The haze of sleep only clears from her emerald eyes when Shego realizes that this was not her room or her house. She lets her head collapse back on the pillow with a groan, mentally cursing out her co-workers for bringing her here.

Once she ran out of curse words, she slowly moves around, testing her motor skills from her head down to her toes. Satisfied that she had control over her body once more, she slowly gets out of bed. When her blackout problems first began three years ago, she had learned early on that any jerky motions after waking from her episode may cause her condition to act up once more and she is in no rush for a repeat.

She does not bother hiding or fighting back her yawn as she moves into stretches to work out the kinks from her muscles. When done, she reaches forward to grasp the water glass -- mentally noting the yellow post-it note beside its coaster -- filled about one fourth of the way at the bedside table which she gulps down.

Once her thirst is quenched, she picks up the note on the table which reads:

_This is the __**THIRD**__ time this week I've had to see your punk ass in here because you're too damn stupid to know when to stop. Get down to the Greenhouse and talk to me or I'll tranq your ass until next month._

"Ah shit she's pissed." Shego shudders. Words do no justice when you anger a Mother Hen Doctor who is normally calm, cheerful, and doesn't curse. She reallllyyy hopes that the elder woman's trimming bonsai trees today because that and her husband --who would not be back for another week-- are the only things that can calm the lighting storm that is her pissed off doctor.

* * *

"So, Um... I'm guessing that you just got back. How's the Yamanouchi school, Tan?" Tan, or rather Doctor Tanya Sloan Park, former radio DJ and wife of the long retired head ninja Adam Park, looks up from her bonsai tree to smile at the green-skinned woman who had spent the last 10 minutes after entering her garden, fidgeting with the chair after gulping down the glass of water she had set on her desk. 

"It's going very well."

"Is that old man still kicking the shit out of the newbies' egos?" The African woman laughs lightly as she returns to snipping at the branches.

"Occasionally. I don't think he's ran into any arrogant ones for quite a while now." Silence returns and Tan could see out of the corner of her eye that the silence was not comfortable for Shego. Before she could bring up her observations, Shego blurts out,

"You haven't asked me that question." Tan tilts her head in puzzlement at the younger woman but does not stop her trimming.

"What question?"

"You know! _That_ question. The question everyone keeps asking me since the goddamn announcement."

_Ah, that._ Confusion cleared, Tan continues her trimmings.

"Do you want me to ask?" Shego scowls at her doctor.

"I majored in Child Psychology Tan. Don't do that fucking reverse shit on me." Realizing that she would not be able to finish her project, Tan doesn't even raise an eyebrow as she puts away her equipment and clears off her garden desk.

"You being sent here after falling unconscious at work, for the third time this week," Here, Shego flinches at her deadly tone. "is self-explanatory to me. But... Since you want proof..." With that she fully turns around to face her patient.

"Your eyes shows wariness that comes from hiding your grief, your face shows sleep deprivation, and your hands are clinch in a pencil hold in the way one does when their hand has been in one position too long."

"In 'nother words, there's no need to ask 'how I feel' because I look the way I feel... like shit."

"M-hmm..." Taking off her dirt stained yellow gloves whose pale color matches the bright yellow hair tie as well as her T-shirt and tucking them in the back pockets of her faded blue jeans, Tan moves to kitchen, snatching up the glass as she went.

She returns to the room, her hands washed and glass refilled. The glass is set back to the desk but she continues moving so that she would be sitting in one of many the living chairs spread out around her greenhouse. The chair she sits in is close enough to Shego to where they can be heard, but far enough away that personal space would not be invaded.

She leans against the coffee table and smiles when she hears the familiar laughter of her friend's two children. Shego's reaction to their joy is one of surprise.

"Are..." The temporary GJ agent hesitates as if wondering she should really ask her question. "Are they here?" Tan nods and tilts her head to the window, inviting her to look, which Shego does with no hesitation. The two of them watches in silence as the two children race around the doctor's backyard chasing the tiny forms of Rufus Two and Rufus Junior

"They worried when you didn't go home today, but Kaine made a few calls and figured out that you were going to be here."

"Yeah... he's a smart boy." Tan mentally frowns as sadness won over the pride on her face as she turns her body to face her but says nothing as she patiently waits for the younger woman to elaborate her sudden bout of melodrama.

"I feel sorry for them." Shego finally says.

"Why?"

"I'm useless as a parent and I'm all they've got..."

"I don't think that at all. The three times I've seen you this week aside, I'm actually very impressed with what you've done so far. They've growing up into a good children so I'd say you're a wonderful mother." Shego snorts in a self-depreciating laugh.

"As if." Iskra's squeals of laughter came through once more as Rufus Junior climbs on her back to blow a raspberry to Kaine. He and Rufus Two looks over at each other and starts chasing after Iskra and Rufus Junior in retaliation.

"I wish I could give them a normal life and could do normal things with them, learn acrobatics, go to the mall, travel to amusement parks, and go to the festival they have planned in Little Tokyo. I've been there and I've done those things when I was their age and they are all part of the best times of my life."

Shego lifts up her right arm to bend it at the elbow so that her hand -- palm up and facing her -- is leveled with her chest but is far away enough so she can stare at it.

"Instead, I can't go to those places with them. If I do I'd end up losing control of my fucking body like I did this morning thanks this _**goddamn**_ disease. And to make it worse..." Her hands light up just enough that no one but the two of them can see it. "I end up passing on my freak powers to them."

"It's still inconclusive with Iskra." Tan points out.

"But she will. The two of them in a few years will have kids screaming at them and picking on them for being a freak like me." The green flames vanishes as Shego drops her hand. Tan does not speak as she watches her close then turn away from the window to sit her previously occupied chair, she drinks from her water glass then returns to her seat once the glass is down on the desk again.

Tan can not help but frown again at her actions. This is not normal Shego behavior at all. Normal Shego is sarcastic and a bit violent but she had never been this... brooding or angsty. The reason for this reaction continues to escape her notice until her eyes landed on the back of the only picture at her office desk that the younger woman was sitting to the left of and about 2 feet away from.

"It has been over a year now since she disappeared." Shego tenses then jerks her head up to look at her, her eyes searching hers as if looking for some clue of her deceit. When she finds none, Shego, though still tense, relaxes enough to nod. Tan takes advantage of her nod to go to her desk where she had set Shego's files upon her admittance to her clinic.

Wanting to put her at ease, she picks up her pen and moves her eyes across the pages that she has read hundreds of times before. She forces herself to actually read the words and write down a few notes about the younger woman's condition for today on a new page.

"I'm finding that I'm remembering... less and less about her." Shego whispers after about 10 minutes of silence. Tan forces her eyes to finish reading her sentence and lifts her head up to watch her patient, whose eyes are staring at some point away that only she can see. "I seem to only feel her when I watch her on video or look at her photograph."

"You think you've lost her?"

"It feels that way..." Shego whispers. "But she told me... she made me believe that..." She trails off, unable to say anymore, but she didn't need to. Tan knows what she cannot say.

"With her last words she told you to wait for her at the spot during the next solar eclipse?"

"Yes."

"She wrote it in Kaine and Iskra's book too."

"Yes."

"Do you believe that?"

"I think Iskra still doesn't really understand but I know that Kaine believes it."

"Then, what's the problem?"

"Because it's impossible!" Shego angrily snaps. "And-And-And..." Shego's burst of emotions vanishes as fast as it appeared, seemingly draining all of her energy away. She tiredly scrubs her face with her hands before dropping them back on the seat of her chair.

"And instead of telling the truth... I'm railing up Kaine and Iskra with hope that the impossibility of what _she_ laid out could and would actually happen." Tan slides a neutral expression on her face before putting down her pen. Once the pen is set down, she swerves her chair so that she can lean against the back rest to look at the younger woman.

"As a doctor, I'd say that yes, it's impossible." The flash of anguish across the Shego's face but is quickly masked. Had the doctor been anyone else, the flash would have gone by with no notice. Shego's move to say something in reply to her comment has the elder woman jumping in to interrupt her.

"Do you want it to be true?"

"Of course I do! I lost her, Tanya. I lost her and I tried to tell myself to not believe in her promise, to put it behind me and keep moving forward... but... But what I tell myself is different from what I feel." Shego clinches her fists but doesn't light up. "I want her to fulfill her promise. I need to know that she forgives me for being a burden to her from the beginning to the end. And I want to make it up to her, to make her happy. Maybe... maybe we could even take a small trip somewhere."

"Then you should keep hoping. It seems to me that you haven't lost her at all." Shego snaps up her head to stare at her in shock.

"Aren't you suppose to stop me from entertaining these delusional thoughts?" Tan grins at her.

"My husband is a Ninja Master in the Art of The Frog who doubles as a Ninja Master in the Art of The Monkey because his best friend, the first Monkey Master, injured his back. I am and am friends with a Ninja Master in the Art of The Bear. You, your son, and your brothers have the touch of the comet within. We have all touched the Earth and I would think that you of all people would know that unexplainable things, labeled delusional by others, happen all the time. Perhaps instead of trying to believe in reality, you should just try to believe."

"What if it doesn't happen?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"I just don't want my children to end up calling us liars because I'm the one who fucked things up."

"Why would you think that?" Shego rolls her eyes.

"Oh I don't know. Evil sidekick. Merc. Thief. And oh, did I mention evil sidekick to "The Great Blue?" Ring a bell yet you old hag or shall I go on?" Tan ignores the sneer in her tone and lifts up her fingers to tick off her own points.

"Team Go, Team Possible, and a good mother to two children." She lets her hand drop back to her desk. "I'd say your good karma out weighs your bad." Shego groans.

"And we're back to this again."

"We won't have to keep going back to this if you'd quit that emo thinking of yours." Tan suppresses a smirk when the other woman tries to slay her with a death glare. While she did succeed in suppressing her smirk, she isn't able to stop her laugh at the next word out of Shego's mouth.

"Damare!" A word that translates "Shut Up" and most likely had been taught to the woman by a certain Japanese ninja that is her granddaughter, Yori.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop teasing." Tan says as she reaches for her pen once more to jolt down a medical leave note for Shego which she takes. "One last thing, I'm sorry, but I'm obligated as a doctor to ask you this question."

"Shoot Doc."

"How are you feeling?" Shego smiles at the doctor's attempt to make her feel better.

"The same." The younger woman stands up then walks out the door, not looking back at her even as she shut the door behind her.

_Countdown: 3 days_

* * *

**A/N 2:** _Bah, I ended up re-write this chapter so many times it's crazy. I had plans on introducing several more characters before ending this chapter so that I can start kicking it up a notch, but I find that I seem to be slowing down instead because my Shego-muse went into angst mode. I think it's because we're two chapters in (three if you want to include the prologue) and she hasn't gotten into any fights yet._

_Anyways, if you've read this far, you just got a few hints about why Shego's changed and yes, she is sick. Don't worry, it's not the kind of sick that will eventually cause her to die, but it would, unfortunately, cause her to lose control over her motor skills. There's no real name for her condition, no one's really sure what caused it but the combination of lack of sleep and getting too stressed does tend to cause her condition to act up more than usual. If the stress is too high, she tends to black out. She's on medication but it tends to mess with her brain functions about an hour after she takes it hence the post-it notes in the last chapter._

_So why is she a GJ agent? Even a temporary one? Who is "she"? How did Shego get sick? Was it the lighting? Who is "Daddy"? And the answer is..._

_That's it for now. I've got midterms coming up for rest of February so I don't really know when I'll update next but I've got a few lines to Chapter Three started. My best estimate would be (if my muses don't run off on me) to have it ready by the end of March since I don't think I'll be able to work on it at all until March first at the earliest. We'll see... I would just like to ask you to please be patient with me and drop me a line if you see any problems and/or have any questions. But if you're really bored, then I'd suggest making a list of all the characters in the Deal or No Deal kind of way and start the elimination round with what I've told you so far. Erm... yeah I'll shut up now._

_i_


	3. The Red String Tightens

**DISCLAIMER: **_All of the Disney characters in this fic are not mine although I wish they were. I'm also borrowing the idea and storyline from the movie and book by the same name called "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu". The book is by Takuji Ichikawa and the movie (and later the TV series as well) are both based on the book._ _Hope you enjoy! Comments and complaints welcomed :-)_

**Author's Note:** _If it's in italics and has parenthesis around, it means that it's a flashback. i.e. (" I am italics" )_

_If it's italics with quotes then it's a thought. i.e. " I am a thought " _

_If it's italics that's been underlined, then it was said in the past by the person having the flashback. ( " I have been said in the past. " )_

**Timeline:** _Please assume that the Kim Possible Canon Universe is something a little further into the future and that this story starts about 14 years past that and about 3 days after the prologue._

i

-- -- -- Chapter 3 -- -- --

Thuds of fist on flesh.

Crashes of metal as well as bodies on brick and/or cement.

Martial art like cries withers down to senseless growls, yells, and screams of effort, pain, or sadness.

The sounds of blood, sweat, and tears dripping on to surface areas if you have the ear to hear them.

And grunts of pain echoing though the night.

These are the sounds that a disguised Monique Pearman: Fashion Diva, newly promoted CEO of Club Banana, and wife to one William Du hears as she approaches a familiar alley way. The alley called the Lowerton Street Paradise is a well known and preferred battlefield of the serious street fighters in or around the Lowerton areas. The reason is thanks to the still brightly glowing neon red and green signs belonging respectively to the Mexican restaurant and the local convenience store that frames said alley way despite being closed almost four hours ago. While not a fighter herself, this place is one she enjoys visiting whenever she is able to take a day off work. Her early years of enjoying wrestling matches play a big part in her being here.

_"It feeds my fighting cravings and it's free."_ She muses with a grin as she approaches, via the shadows, the scattered sets of boxes where many other spectators are sitting. Monique has no interest in being seen enjoying the matches; the reason being that she often volunteers, mentors, and/or sponsors impressionable young children to do well in life instead of falling to crime. Thus, being found here is likely to cause an uproar in the American Society even though she is simply a street fighter spectator.

She is happy to note that her usual spot against the restaurant wall is empty of people so she makes a beeline for it as quickly and as quietly as she can.

She had barely made herself comfortable there when a pair of slightly faded black sneakers lands on the box to the right side of her face. Her eyes follow the sneakers upwards and then widens in recognition and shock. Memories from her past begins overlapping the present, wrapping its chains around her and shackling her to the ground as ghosts began taking over the places of the fighters

_(**" Complicated Rules...?"**)_

The wind picks up, ruffling the half red and green hair and the cuffs of the khaki-colored cargos covering the tongue of the shoes enough so that the brand would not be seen. Faded black leather gloved hands slides from her T-shaped balancing stance to being tucked deep within the pockets closest to the light brown utility belt, a belt on which some sort of hair dryer is hanging from as if it were a pistol. The arms belonging to those hands are black due to the long sleeved turtleneck of the same color covering them. The shirt is loose enough to give the wearer freedom of movement but tight enough to hint vaguely at the curves behind it.

_(Feminine laughter rang out and echoed in the alley, despite the fact that she probably had another broken nose, despite the fact that there was blood dripping from the seemingly shallow cut from under her right eye, and despite the fact that she was still in battle with a slimy man whose killing intent was slowly rising because they were ignoring him._

_**" The Rules aren't that complicated..."**)_

"HEY! DON'T YOU DARE WALK WAY FROM ME! I'M NOT DOWN YET BITCH!!" The reason for the woman landing in front of her becomes clear when the feeling of killing intent explodes through area with the angry scream from a pale faced, brown eyes, greasy shoulder length black haired man in his mid-twenties dressed in a dark blue three piece suit and black dress shoes. Anyone lesser and closer to the man fell to their knees, gasping for breath.

The man is barely standing up, his legs wobbling as he leans heavily on his bloodstained Wushu Dao -- a Chinese Broadsword that is, oddly enough, locked in a smooth metal sheath and has been for the entire battle. Parts of his snappy outfit are torn in several places and stained with blood. Blood continues to runs down his face from several cuts and there are several bruises littering the right side of his face, thus sealing that eye shut.

_(**"The winner is the one that hasn't been KO'ed -- that's Knocked Out by the way. Just a warning though, it's a tie if the one who went down last went down within a minute after the first."**)_

The man bursts into a flash step type run and when he is less than three feet away from his opponent, he cries out in determination as his broadsword converges on her.

_(**The major rules are: No killing, no maiming, no manipulations like rape or paying fighters to lose, no killing, absolutely no hiring other people in your place; oh, and no killing."**)_

...On her previous position. The man's eyes widen in shock as his sword continue its momentum, its side slash displacing the faint whisper of air the woman had left behind when she vanished. He quickly looks around for a clue on where she vanished to while drawing his broadsword back to his body in defense.

_(**"Oh and no one knows about this so keep this under your hat: You know how all clean-up and hospital bills are paid for by an unknown benefactor? Well, that's a part of the GJ program... So, have fun with it."**)_

"She's flying!" The man reflexively snaps his head upwards at the boy-child's cry as did Monique. Being that she wasn't close to the battle zone, she notices small details like the blood dripping down from the forehead wound above the female fighter's closed left eye and she shudders a bit at the emotionless look in the other woman's green eye. Turning her attention to the male fighter, she can tell that the look that made her shudder has caused the male fighter to freeze up thus allowing the female fighter to quickly speed downwards at a sixty degree angle -- and head first -- towards him. She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even notice the wounds on his opponent's body. Monique tightens her shawl around her when she feels the wind picks up, throwing around grains of cement. She sees the male fighter flinch in pain as the grains bites into his own wounds, shaking him from his stupor.

The distance between them is still large enough that he seems to be able to quickly form a semi-plan to counter assault. The muscles on his knee tense, allowing him to quickly leap backwards from his position in order to avoid the collision. As he does this, he tightens his sword arm up at an angle for a counter attack.

It was a good idea, if this woman isn't who she is. In a move that surprises him, she somehow changes the course of her spin and drives her elbow into the back of his head so hard he hits the ground once more. She uses her continued momentum to land on her fingers and then flips herself so that she lightly lands in a pose Monique remembers from cheerleading practices so long ago -- head high and arms spread upwards in a Y stance. The only thing she didn't do is smile and the only things she doesn't have are her pompoms.

The move itself didn't just surprise the finally unconscious man, judging by the silence, it seems to have surprised the rest of the crowd as well.

_(**"Oh and one last rule..."**)_

The crowd's silence is interrupted by the boy-child from earlier when the woman eases off from her pose.

"Ms. Street Fighter, Ms. Street Fighter! Are you --?"

_(**"...you can't use your name."**)_

Whatever the excited boy-child is trying to say gets cut off as his older image -- perhaps his teen brother? -- unknowingly shoves him off to the side in his own excitement.

_("What did you use?")_

"Are you Skylar?" The brother asks hopefully. At the mention of the name, the crowd breaks into startled murmurs.

"Skylar?"

Monique can still remember the happy grin in **her** voice...

_(**"Skylar..."**)_

"Where the hell have you been?! Under a rock?!"

"Yeah! Skylar's world famous for being the master of aerial fights! The one whose only been beaten about 5 times and was able to win back 4 of those matches twice over!"

"And the only reason that she didn't win back the last one is because the guy was so desperate to win that he used a near suicide move that injured him so bad that he can't street fight anymore."

"Oh Maannnn, my rankings just went up! It's going to fall again now that she's back."

"Forget rankings man, I just want to fight her."

"The hell you are! Get in line bastard! I claimed the spot first last year!"

"That was last year! Fuck off or I'll kick your ass first!" Monique could see the fighter's fear kick in as the murmurs grows louder and move to close in on her. So it didn't surprise her when she begins to run away leaving everyone behind.

She does not seem to notice the calls for her to wait nor does she notice Monique in the crowd dialing up a familiar number. As the woman waits for a connection, she allows herself to be shoved to the side as the fighter runs past with tears falling from her eyes.

Elsewhere, two books slides from their precarious perch on top of the phone and drops to the ground. One book opens to the second page which says,

_"My little defender Kaine,_

_You ask me... Where do all the people go when they die?_

_I don't really know the answer but I think... we go to the Archive Star and become one of the Stars of Memories._

The second book opens to the third page which says,

_Iskra, one day, Daddy will travel to the Archive Star too._

_But, don't cry my little spark._

_After one year has passed and when the sky darkens during the mid-day, to you all, I will return."_

-- Page 2 through 6 from Kaine and Iskra's picture books written by one "Daddy"

Countdown: 1 day

* * *

"Floor Two" of the home of Shego, Kaine, and Iskra is, as the name implies, not the only floor in said home. The floor plan for this home shows that there are two other "floors" in addition to "Floor Two."

Firstly, there is "The Lazy," a name given to "Floor Three" of the home. On the outside, it is mostly camouflaged by the trees and vines around its area. On the inside, it is nothing more than an attic space cleaned out, repainted in a soft blue, and carpeted with tri-colored yarn whose effects creates alternating stripes of red and brown in a check pattern.

It is also furnished with furniture and other objects normally found in one's den or living room. However, unlike the living room downstairs - which had been set up to be more education minded via well placed encyclopedias, old college textbooks, etc - this room seems to invite relaxation with its fluffy looking black couch and arm chairs, "tanning" station -which includes three red and white horizontal striped beach chair seats-, the plasma TV on the wall, a billiards table, and the green toy box underneath. Strangely enough, there doesn't seem to be any exit except for out the two black framed windows facing east.

"Australia" is the name given to "Floor One" of the shack, which is an extremely large basement consisting of the gym with a small swimming pool, washer and dryer room, and two bedrooms, one of which is being occupied by the sleeping forms of the children, the naked mole rats having being returned to Ron when he stopped by before his mission began.

"Ground Zero" is the name given to a hidden bedroom that has been used many times to take care of injuries sustained during the day so not to frighten the children. Within this room is a station which kept a few medical equipments, a bathroom, various "work" equipments, a bed, and two dressers -one blue, one green- containing several changes of clothes.

Lying on the bed is a dark green phone that looks like a version of the older Kimmunicator -only with a slightly bigger screen and headphones in the top jack- showing flickering images in silence while Shego -wearing only black sweats with her name in green lettering on her right leg and a black sports bra- scrubs at her face over the sink.

The sound of a special knock on the door startles her into splashing water everywhere, drawing curses. Walking back into the bedroom while holding a towel to the left side of her face and attempting to strive off weight from her sprained right ankle, she glances over at the black and green clock which reads 4:12am.

_"Forty-Eight minutes... that's a new record."_ She muses as she approaches the green and blue dressers with a mirror above each dresser.

A second impatient knock came through causing annoyance to cross her face and with a shout of "Keep your fucking pants on bastard," she reaches out and punches the button to let in the one of only three people who knows about this room before rummaging around for her black T-shirt with green shoulder stripes.

Once the shirt was on, she turns around to see Wade Load, the now 24 year old full time hacker for Team Possible and part time hacker for herself, frowning at her in worry from his position at the door way, his arm across his chest. The man's form had changed over the years that she had known him.

He isn't as chubby as the boy he had been, but, he still has what people would call a slight "beer belly" which she tends to think of as a bit humorous considering the fact that that the boy refuses to drink anything that isn't pop/soda. The thing that always annoys her is that despite the inactiveness of his tween years -and his horrible junk food eating habits-, he now holds a 6'4 height, and his shoulders as well as his muscles had widened enough to consider putting him in the NFL as a Tight End or a Safety. Of course, she can proudly declare that she contributed to that by forcing him to join the Middleton High football team's extra practices.

"Well?" A common complaint from one Ron Stoppable is the fact that the "Lord of Puberty" blessed Wade -and the Tweebs- too well, drawing a small fangirl base to the younger man because of his "manly" voice.

Shego grunts in reply as she turns away from the door to look at her mirror image while picking up the square gauze pad she placed next to the button. As she pinches the split skin together and stick the pad over the wound, she could hear him sigh in mild exasperation before stepping forward away from the door.

Neither said a word to each other while she continued tending to her wound by wrapping and knotting a gauze bandage around her head and him with allowing the automatic door slide letting it shut behind him before going to one of the two chairs next to her bed. Normally she would've made a crack about him breaking her chair, but she doesn't because she knows why he's there.

Countdown: 1 day

* * *

Around seven in the morning - following the conversation with Wade - finds her returning to her home through her own back door, her body free from injuries and dressed in her mission uniform... the green and black catsuit she often wears even in her early years.

Childish greetings of "MOMMA!" nearly deafens her with their close proximity thanks to their "flying tackle-hug." To avoid hitting the ground and injuring the children, she catches them in the height of their jump, spins the two around 360 degrees, and drops them back on the ground. She finishes them off by ruffling their hairs.

"Momma!!" Kaine whines with Iskra echoing a second later. Smirking to hide her smile, she ignores their grips as she pokes them both in the forehead.

"Alright you brats, enough whining and mushy time. Did you guys wait up for me?" Crouching down slightly to their level she asks, "And did you behave for Uncle Wade?"

"Yes!" A snort of disbelief from behind them has the small family turning around and looking at the paint splattered genius drying his hands with an equally stained wash cloth behind them.

"Oh really...? I distinctly remember a certain two shorties attempting to peek at their birthday presents, even though I've told them not to. I also seem to remember the waking me up at 4 in the morning jumping on the bed. Oh, and a certain paint throwing fight we just finished cleaning up."

The children flushes sheepishly. Schooling her face in a frown she shakes her finger at them.

"Well, well, my little liars. It's punishment time. Go get your banks and your checkbooks."

"Awwww!!" The two shuffles off dejectedly and she takes this chance to stand back up.

"So paint throwing?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. Wade shrugs throwing the towel over his left shoulder.

"As soon as they heard the news about the eclipse today and that you were coming home, they couldn't sleep. Ended up screaming at me to waking up at 4 in the morning. I had to keep them busy with painting the two bird feeders and mini green house we built yesterday. Iskra ended up getting too much paint on her brush and splattered Kaine. Kaine just had to retaliate of course and, well, Joss will be snickering at me for weeks."

"Hmm, those two should have enough money to cover for a new T-shirt. I could use yours for a new wash cloth, now that the one you're using is beyond salvageable." Wade rolls his eyes.

"Ha-ha funny."

"I'm glad you noticed." He sighs in mock annoyance. Taking on a serious expression she adds, "Thanks."

"For covering your butt? No problem." Shego smirks.

"You've learned well."

"I've had a good corruptive influence." A sad smile crosses her face as she remembers the trophy she had been presented as a joke with the same three words engraved on there. Wade gently sets his hand on her shoulder.

"You really should talk to her." Before she could give her answer she could hear Iskra cry out.

"Ah!! Uncle Wade's being mean to Momma!" Both adults blink in surprise as the two children drop their banks and notebooks and run towards him in their attempts to beat him up. It is only Wade's reflex that allows him to hold Kaine and Iskra at arm and foot length respectively as they pinwheel their arm strikes in their attempts to dish out justice.

"Hooohh, you dare to challenge **me** the paint fighter champion!" The older man drawls. "Then take this! Uncle Wade's Re-invention of Your Daddy's invention... THE Five Minutes Worth of Tickles! Bwahahaha!" Shego slaps her forehead in disbelief at the corny name as the children's outcries turns into one of giggling fits as they try to squirm away from the "Tickle Avenger" as he had taken to call himself.

Sliding her hand off her head, she couldn't help smiling fondly at how silly they looked. Deciding that she should save her children from being tickled to death by their "big-brother figure," she steps in and scoops up her two little sunshines. The two, feeling that they're now safe from the "Tickle Avenger" sticks out their tongue and blows raspberries at him.

"Alright, Alright, that's enough out of you three. And just because of the raspberries, you two will have to give Uncle Wade extra."

"What?! No fair!" Shego frowns at the children's protest.

"You know the rules brats."

"Finnneeee."

"Once you guys are done, we'll head out to visit the barn." Both children perks up at this and turns to Wade.

"Are you going to go with us Uncle Wade?" Iskra asks.

"Maybe next time. I have to go back to your Aunty Joss in Montana today or she'll worry about me."

"Okay."

By the time they got through with: deducting money from the children's banks -teaching the kids to count out the money on their own-, a new shirt bought -much to Wade's relief, Shego didn't throw out his paint splattered one-, breakfast was eaten -at the local Bueno Nacho's much to Shego's disgust-, and Wade was dropped off at the airport -with calls of good bye and a "Say hi to the Possi-bee" from Shego-; it was nearing 11 o'clock and raining.

The children are determined to not let the rain deter them from their adventure which is why 11:00 finds the three of them strolling through the forest playing word games.

"Ah!" A game which gets abandoned as soon as the double doors of the barn came in sight. Both children runs towards them excitedly.

"Hey you two be careful!" She yells.

"Okay Momma!"

When she finally enters the barn herself, she could see the two of them darting all over the place, flipping over a few things and tossing around others as though looking for something. Assuming that they were, she asks,

"What are you two looking for?"

"It's a secret!" Kaine says as he looks through one of the metal barrels.

"And what is this secret?"

"A big secret! We promised Daddy we won't tell anyone except Daddy!" Iskra says giggling. Shego blinks in surprise.

"Promised Daddy?" Iskra nods setting some of the metal junk aside while Kaine "fights" with some of the local vegetation.

"Un! But we can't find it anymore..." Iskra says, shuffling her feet into the dirt.

"Well, then, if you promised Daddy, then you should keep looking then."

"Of course, doy!" Kaine says as he fiddles with another set of metal junk, as if offended that she would think that they would stop looking. Shego smiles when she sees the renewed determination rising within Iskra at her brother's words as well as the look of concentration on their faces. After a while of watching to make sure they didn't end up hurting themselves lifting heavy things, she decides that it would be best to leave them to their own devices.

She turns steps forward towards the wall where huge windows ones stood and stops when a slight breeze came through. She takes one more step forward and smiles as the sky turned dark from the solar eclipse announced for the day. She watches in wonder at the beauty of nature as the darkness is seemingly chased away by the sunlight. With the eclipse being over, she turns her attention back to the breeze and she closes her eyes to enjoy it and the peacefulness of the day.

It wasn't long before she hears the barn's rusty back door creak open behind her. She dimly makes a mental note to ask the children how they opened it later, she is enjoying the breeze too much to want to deal with the frustration. Rather, she would have continued enjoying the breeze if it wasn't for the fact that all movements from the children ceased a few minutes later. She slowly turns her head to her right only to see her children standing and gapping in shock at something behind her.

She frowns in worry when the metal gear from an old clock slips from Kaine's hand. Before she could turn around to see what was wrong, one almost inaudible word leaves both children's lips.

"Daddy..."

Shego's heart speeds up and she slowly turns around to look. Her eyes widens in disbelief when she sees a shivering and water-logged figure huddling on the rotted wooden steps a few feet in front of the barn's rusty opened back door.

She is mentally frozen in that space, unable to control herself as she took one step forward, fighting the hope within her. A branch snaps under Shego's feet, echoing through the room in the silence, causing the figure's head to snap up in startlement. The face she sees brings back the memory of her conversation with Wade the night before.

_(Before she could even blink, Wade had shot out of the chair and punched her in the pit of her stomach. Shego could only let out a wheezing chuckle as Wade stepped backwards and crosses his arms across his chest once more. That he would lower his guard that easily would seem like a suicidal move to most. The simple fact was that there was no reason for him not to. After all, both knew that if she really wanted to, she could've easily laid him flat on the ground before he could even get within two feet of her._

_" Nerdlinger, should've known. Only Pearman-Du would have the balls to follow me." Wade rolled his eyes as he pulled out his own Kimmunicator from his pocket and fiddled with the controls on it, probably so he could send a reply to the aforementioned Pearman-Du._

_" No, _**Monique**_ didn't follow you." Shego chuckled again as she leaned back against her dresser while dropping her arms to her side once she was able to regain her breath._

_" But she was there. Heh, bad day to go watch. Wasn't exactly my best performance, being out of practice and all." She said with a shrug. " But hey, I show that Du bastard that I can still kick ass."_

_" Kenna-" Her hands clinched into fists as she glared at him._

_" Don't you ever call me that again you hear me?! Don't you ever fucking call me that! Kenna doesn't exist anymore-"_

_" Especially today?" She tried to retort but couldn't find anything to say in response to that._

_" This is exactly why we're worried about you. First you request to be put into the tournament even after knowing your problems AND getting in confirmed. Then you rebuff the warnings with fighting just for what? A shortened life span?!"_

_" We don't know that! And don't you dare play doctor on me Wade, I already have one!" She snapped._

_" You have two." Wade reminded her. The piercing look from too wise eyes -eyes that shouldn't even be on the face of a 24 year old- forced her to look away. " She's been asking about you."_

_" The kids are - "_

_" She's not asking about the kids, she babysits twice a week so she knows they're okay. She's asking about you!" Wade growled. Realizing that she wasn't going to say anything more he sighs again before adding in a soft tone. " She thinks you blame her for what happened." Shego looked back at Wade, startled._

_" What?! NO! No, of course I don't! How could she think that?!"_

_" How could she not?! Whenever the two of you happen meet up in the streets, you avoid her. You wouldn't even look her way, much less talk with her."_

_" Yes I do."_

_" Ke-Shego, even _**Ron's**_ noticed the awkwardness when the two of you are forced to interact with each other."_

_" I just... " She turned away, not wanting to say anymore. " You won't understand... hell, I don't understand it myself."_

_" Why don't you just let me be the judge of that!")_

It has been almost 12 years since Shego stopped being a villain/sidekick

Almost 6 years since the day of their wedding as well as the year Kaine was born.

Almost 4 years since Iskra was born.

Almost a year since **she** disappeared.

And now, on the day between these milestones, Shego can literally feel the missing half of her soul click into place and see the red string between their pinkies entwining and thickening. Her heart swells as the wind parts the limbs and leaves from the trees above, allowing sunlight to reveal the long red hair and olive green eyes of Kimberly Ann Possible: world saver, leader of GJ, father to Kaine Behar Possible, father to Iskra Reilly Possible, husband to Kenna Shepry Go -alias Shego Possible-, and -according to the official announcement 5 months ago- someone who was suppose to have died a year ago.

(_" Fine! You want to know so fucking bad? It's because they look too much alike dammit! They have the same build, the same hair, hell, they even have the same damn voice! My heart and soul knows that they aren't the same, but I can't stop myself from building up hope until all it takes is for me to glance at her eyes and it feels like I've been sucker punched. No matter how much I scream at myself, it still feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest when I see blue eyes instead of the green I fell in love with. _**That's**_ my fucking 'reason'!" _)

Countdown... Zero...

* * *

**A/N:** _Wow I thought I might end up uploading this a day late. I had all the scenes I want for this chapter written, I just couldn't find a good way to close this chapter._

_In other news, the next chapter won't be for a while yet. With April being the month where EVERYTHING is due and May being Final Exam time, I won't be able to work on it as much as I wish to. My goal is to have it ready sometime before the end of the third week of May at the very latest and the end of April at the earliest._

_So, now that you've reached the end of this chapter, let me know what you think. Comments and complaints are welcomed. :-)_


	4. Hit and Miss

**DISCLAIMER: **_All of the Disney characters in this fic are not mine although I wish they were. I'm also borrowing the idea and storyline from the movie and book by the same name called "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu". The book is by Takuji Ichikawa and the movie (and later the TV series as well) are both based on the book._ _Hope you enjoy! Comments and complaints welcomed :-)_

**Author's Note:** _If it's in italics and has parenthesis around, it means that it's a flashback. i.e. (" I am italics" )_

_If it's just italics then it's a thought. i.e. " I am a thought " _

_If it's italics that's been underlined, then it was said in the past by the person having the flashback. ( __" I have been said in the past. "__ )_

**Timeline:** _See Chapter 1..._

i

-- -- -- Chapter 4 -- -- --

It's strange.

She has dreamed of this very moment for months. There were several scenarios where she'd run up and hug her mate and never let go; where'd she scream and yell and throw a tantrum for deceiving and leaving her; where'd she'd chase Kim around while throwing plasma and they'd end up fighting each other until they were both too tired to do anything else other then holding hands; where'd she fall and cry and cling to her better half like the lifeline she was to her...

All those cliche things that she had often scoffed or laughed at when Kim read aloud those parts of her romance novels to her... and yet... despite her hope and despite her heart screaming "Yes this is her! This is my soulmate! Go to her!" she can't seem to feel anything at all. All she could get was the feeling of something being... different... and wrong. It was as if Kim's gone so far away from her in the year they spent apart... as if they aren't looking at each other with mere yards between them, yards that would only take her half a minute to get to the seated redhead at full run.

She knows this but she can't seem to do anything more than stand and stare like a dumbass, uncertain and unable to do more than drinking in everything about her mate in that one single minute before--

"Daddy!" The children squeal with happiness as they run toward the seated woman stopping short of throwing themselves on her probably giving the world saver the huge grins that Kim had often said was cute.

(_"They're like little puppies; I can almost imagine a little tail waving behind them."_)

Before she knows it, she finds herself behind their daughter and isn't able to stop herself from asking the red haired woman what the display earlier had answered,

"Kimmie..." Kim shifts her eyes from the children up to hers as Shego speaks and a chill slides down the green skinned woman's spine at the blank stare in her mate's dull olive eyes. "Is that really you, Kimmie?"

"Kimmie?" Kim's voice sounds hoarse as if it hasn't been used in a very long time but the questioning tone is unmistakable. It is only then that Shego realized how haggard her mate looks, with her purple and black mission outfit clinging to her much thinner frame while looking weather worn with dirt patches -- some of which is on parts of her tanish-pale skin like her face and arms -- and a few holes.

"I...Is that my name?" The chill turns her stomach and the fear in her heart causes her hands to shake. A part of her is glad that she had the foresight to shove them into her pockets to hide her shakiness from her daughter. Unfortunately for her, Iskra is old enough to understand that something is wrong.

"Daddy?" Shego could hear the tentative questioning tone from her that almost sounds like a whimper. Kim's eyes shift to that of the children and she repeats her words with a tone that sounds to her like disbelief.

"Dad-dy?" Nothing is said again. Shego didn't really understand why they are all still rooted in place as the red head examines them all. Maybe she's hoping that it's a nightmare, that when she wakes up it's morning again and she can head back home to her children. Maybe it's because they're hoping that Kim's either joking or that the longer they stood together like this the more likely that the red head would remember them.

"Who... who are you?" Whatever it is, isn't working, if anything, Kim seems to look even more confused. Shego couldn't stop herself from slowly moving closer and into one of the sun beams, hoping that maybe it's because of the darkness of the barn that is causing her confusion. Unfortunately, the only thing that this move did is cause her heart pain when her mate tries to ease herself closer to the wall, away from them.

Even from where she is standing, Shego can see Kaine tense his shoulders then relax. He slowly steps up to offer his hand to the seated woman. Kim eyes the hand warily and Shego lets out a silent breath that she didn't realize she had been holding when, after a few seconds, the red head takes the offered hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.

* * *

It's still raining when they finally returned to their home and it took a little bit of convincing to get Kim to allow Shego to make sure she has no visible and/or life threatening injuries, of which there are none surprisingly enough.

Once the checkup is through, the three of them lead the amnesic through all the rooms of their home. Kim spends her time clutching the white towel to her, as she looks through the various things that they point out to her, the children at her heels and clinging to her shirt. The hope that she may have remembered something is when they arrived into the last room, the so called "shadow training room" on "Floor One" where the adults worked on their katas or practice new moves. Kim seem drawn to the practice tonfas, bo staffs, nunchakus, and sanjieguns, all of which were the weapons that she had favored in the past.

"Do you still not remember anything, Kimmie?" Shego asks quietly as her mate walks closer to the real weapons with 3 black slash marks drawn on them but doesn't attempt to touch them. Kim pauses in her examination of the weapons and nods slowly. Shego watches her look into the mirror with a simple dark wood frame in the middle of the triangle of weapons -- the red nunchaku with the cyan twin short swords above the mirror, the yellow bo staff with the green meteor hammer on the left, the blue tonfas with the black war fan on the right, and the sanjiegun seemingly connecting the three together, the ends of which are pointing to the darker green and purple sai slightly above the nunchaku.

Kim slides her hand to touch her hair as if unsure that the image she sees in the mirror is actually her. Trying to ease the awkwardness in the air Shego hurriedly says,

"You're... well... it's a bit complicated... but you're Kimberly Ann Possible, you're my husband... and Kaine and Iskra's father."

"I'm a husband," Kim repeats again in a questioning tone that causing Shego to feel unsure of herself. "And a father?" Seeing the picture frame of their family in the corner Shego takes it and hands it to her.

"See, look!" Kim takes the picture and Shego holds her breath again as she looks over the picture. Her mate sniffs a bit and smiles.

"It's me..." The smile relaxes the three of them and Iskra takes this chance to ask with a grin.

"Daddy, what's it like in the Archive Star?" The confused look returns to the amnesic woman's face and before she could say anything else other than a "Huh?" Shego pats their daughter's shoulder with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, um, Kim. You'll catch a cold. You better hurry up and change." She takes Kim's hand and drags her over to their bedroom where their dresser sits.

"Your things are all still there."

"Still there?" Kim sniffs again.

"Right. Uh... give me that towel and I'll get you some cleaner ones." Shego takes the wet towel from her then dashes out for the ones Wade had done earlier this morning -- if the scent on it is anything to go by. She places the new towels on the bed.

"So, uh, here you go. Take your time, we'll be out there. Kaine, Iskra, let's go."

"Why?" The two ask in a whining tone.

"Because I said so, now move your little butts kiddos." With a slight push Shego manages to close the bedroom door, and then she drags the kids into their shared bedroom. She shuts the door and gestures them away from the door towards the middle of the room where they sit on Kaine's sports themed bed.

"Listen you two, it's our little secret that Daddy's back, Ok?" She whispers.

"Why?" Kaine inquires.

"They don't know about the Archive Star, so they'll think she's a zombie or something that's not human and would take her away from us."

"We keep secret!" Iskra says. Kaine puts his finger to his sister's lips and makes a "Shhh!" sound. Iskra's eyes widen and she nods once to show that she understands.

"Secret!" She whispers. Kaine nods himself to show that he agrees.

"And Daddy doesn't seem to remember anything." Shego says clutching her children's hands lightly. "Not about Momma... or about you two."

"Or that she died, once." Her hands tense as she says this but her grip isn't strong enough to make the children flinch much less feel pain.

"Why?" Iskra asks.

"Maybe that's how it is when you come from the Archive Star."

"Why is it like that?" Kaine questions. Shego squeezes her eyes shut as if it pains her to think about it as she says in frustration,

"How should I know?!"

"Sorry..." Kaine murmurs softly, depressed. Shego opens her eyes and changes her grip to pat his hand before returning to holding it.

"I'm sorry too."

"So... she doesn't remember me?" Shego knows that it's a rhetorical question, but answers anyways.

"No."

"So... she doesn't like us anymore." That isn't how memory loss works, but even with her child psychology degree she finds it hard to dumb it down so that a six year old can understand it. So she goes with what -- she thinks -- works.

"Hey, cheer up kiddo... she just doesn't remember that she likes us. Maybe if we show her that we're not so bad, she can start liking us again."

"Me too?" Iskra asks hopefully. Shego smiles at her youngest child.

"Yeah... you and Kaine and Momma too..."

* * *

After their "huddle" the three of them left the room in search of the amnesic woman upon realizing that she is no longer in the bedroom they left her in. It took a little while but they found her in the training room looking over the various weapons and equipment in the room. The children run to her and latch on her blue shirt beaming up at her. After a few seconds of looking at each other, Kim laughs, a sound that's followed by the children's giggling, all of which are melodious to Shego's ears.

"May I ask a question?"

"Yeah sure."

"Did I use to live here? With you?"

"Yes..."

"The equipment... they seem to have been used a lot... but there's a lot of dust on them now. Was I really such a lazy slob?"

"No, no you use to keep this room cleaned all the time. The two of us split chores. I mostly handle anything dealing with the kitchen. You mostly handle anything dealing with the gym. The reason why it's so dirty now is because..." Here she hesitates a bit, not sure if she wants to reveal this fact to her mate, but chooses to do so anyways. "You were in bed, sick -- really sick."

"Really sick." Iskra echoes.

"Uh-huh!" Kaine agrees

"I see." Kim looks around once more. "But still...what a mess."

"It should be okay if we leave it for another day... unless you want to do something here." Shego says.

"Ah... I wonder...if it's okay..." Kim pauses here. "May I take your weapons off the wall?" Shego smiles and chuckles lightly, finding it funny that Kim is asking her for permission to use her own weapons.

"Actually, all of the weapons here are yours. You're the one who brought them here a few days after we moved in. You trained me to use the Sai which you gave me as a birthday gift, so in a way those Sais are mine." She points to the green and purple colored Sai next to the red nunchaku.

"Really? Was I a weapons collector?" Shego shrugs her shoulders.

"Not exactly... I'm not exactly sure what your story is with the colored weapons but you know at least 17 different types of martial arts." Kim's eyes widens at the amount.

"Wow... that's a lot! Is that my job? A martial arts instructor?"

"Well, no, not really, I don't know really if you're at master level of anything. I know that you do some instructions on the side, but you're more of a diplomatic than a fighter."

_"Now anyways,"_ Shego adds in her head. If she can prevent it, Kim isn't going to be going out saving the world again anytime soon.

"I've never seen you practice with anything other than katas with bare fists and those Sai when you were teaching me though."

Kim nods and she tentatively reaches out and touches the nunchaku. She looks over at Shego as if expecting her to say no.

"Go ahead, it's your weapon." She still looks a bit unsure but is a little more confident when she takes the nunchaku from the wall.

"Have you used any of these weapons before?" Kim asks as she turns the weapon over in her hand.

"No, I never really felt like I'd need them in my field."

"With the way you move, I can't picture you as anything other than the best in martial arts, so how come?" Shego wasn't exactly sure she wanted to answer that question. Luckily for her she didn't have to thanks to the growling of stomachs of the kids. Kim, startled, nearly drops the weapon in her hand. The three of them bursts out laughing at the silliness of it all and it didn't take too long before Kim joins them. Kim kneels down on one leg and pats them on their head.

"You two are pretty cute." She looks over at the boy, "Kaine right?"

Kaine nods proudly. "Kaine Behar Possible!" Kim laughs lightly then turns to the girl.

"Iskra?"

"Iskra Possible!" Kim grins and looks up at Shego.

"And I'm Kimmie?" Shego nods, unable to stop smiling at their antics. "Your husband and... Kaine's and Iskra's father."

"Yeah."

"I see."

"I see." Kaine echoes. Not wanting to be left out Iskra says,

"I see!"

Shego grins and Kim laughs lightly. They couldn't help but laugh louder when the children's stomach chooses that moment to grumble at them once more.

"Speaking of feeling... I don't feel like cooking or going out, how does pizza sound?"

* * *

Street clothes were changed to pajamas and much to Shego's disgust... dinner came in the form of food from Bueno Nacho delivery thanks to her being out voted by the rest of the family. She loves her family and all but sometimes she curses the children's inheritance of the Puppy Dog Pout because it works way too well on Kim. She also makes a mental note to make a certain ninja chef's life hell the next time she sees him being that he's the one who introduced the food to her children when he baby-sat them almost a year and a half ago.

_"Still_,_"_ Shego muses as she shifts her body so she'd be lying on her back, staring at the ceiling of the darkened guest room, _"Dinner wasn't a complete bust."_

For her, there were only three good things that came out of that order: the first being that Kim kind of had a feeling that she didn't really like the naco... or a few other things on the menu. This allows Shego to count it in the 'Kimmie will be getting her memory back soon' column. The second good thing was that it relaxed the amnesic woman enough that it erased the dazed look she had been wearing since their meeting at the barn and encouraged her to chat with them. Though in all fairness, it was mostly the children chatting about their day and Kim saying some variations of "Oh, really?"

The last thing is more of an accidental discovery. As with most people and relaxing, Kim ends up slightly dosing off during the dinner and feeling the sleepiest of them all. This somehow reduces the effect of the Puppy Dog Pout to almost zero, so, it took them a lot of pushing and prompting to convince her to retire to bed while Shego and the kids clean up the kitchen area where they ate.

After tiny teeth were brushed and little bodies tucked in bed, Shego found that she had to force herself to not enter her and her mate's bedroom.

At first she didn't mind, in actuality, it's more like she couldn't. In order to get back in time to not worry the kids, she forced her wounds to heal completely before she reached home. Normally, her healing rate takes energy from sun, however, due to the late night hour, she had sacrifice what little remained of her stored energy in order to make her self-appointed deadline. So it's with no surprise that as soon as part of her body touched the bed, she passed out in sleep.

Too bad it seems that fates decided to torture her by making her wake up two hours later, and since then, she has been unable to fall back to sleep.

She has just done her last resort, which is something she'd been dreading since she'd been forced into wakefulness, going over the events in her head, cataloging all the boring details. This has been a method that has worked for her in the past and isn't working now. With a frustrated sigh, she rolls to other side.

No matter how much she's tried to avoid it, Shego knows exactly why she can't seem to find rest. It's mostly due to the worry that everything is an illusion, as if she'd finally lost what little bit of sanity she has left.

Knowing that she won't get any more rest otherwise, she tossed off her covers with a low growl of frustration.

It didn't take long for Shego to reach their bedroom. The door is closed, as expected, and somehow it made her feel slightly relieved. She closes her eyes and touches the wooden door with the pads of her fingers, taking careful measures to prevent her claws from scratching it up.

She takes a slow deep breath as if meditating, but in truth is more to steel herself at what she may find when she enters the room. She opens her eyes, then mentally thanks a certain Felix Renton for WD-40-ing her door when he babysat almost a month ago as she turns the knob while silently pushing it inward.

Shego winces slightly when the opening she made causes the dimmed light from the room to strike her eyes. She stops all movement in order to wait for her eyes to adjust to the light change.

Unable to see anything with just her eye against the opening, she cracks it open some more so she can sticks her head through while mentally scoffing at how cowardly she was acting.

_"I can imagine it now: 'Momma, why are you hiding behind the door to your room? Is there a monster behind there?' "_ She rolls her eyes at herself at some of the answers she comes up with. She just has to hope that her children didn't wake up and catches her doing this.

A look around and her eyes are immediately drawn to the figure lying within the sheets. Shego smiles lightly at how young the sleeper looks, clutching the slightly battered Pandaroo to her chest. It seems that, amnesic or not, Kim still finds comfort in her Pandaroo, a fact that only she, and probably Kim's parents, knows and has endlessly teased her mate about.

The longer she watches her, the more her unease grows when she realizes that Kim isn't moving. In the ten years they've been together Kim has always shifted in her sleep at least once or twice during the night, particularly so whenever she's been stared at. Plus, it doesn't seem like her mate is breathing at all.

With her heart to her throat, Shego quietly creeps into the room and heads towards the bed. Her hand trembles as she leans forward and touches her mate face with the back of her hand.

And what she finds causes an unreadable look to cross her face.

* * *

_Elsewhere in Upperton:_

"Brick Flagg!" Brick Flagg, football star and volunteer firefighter forces himself not to grimace at the eager tone and turns around in his chair within the so called "strategy van" to face the awed face of one of his department's firefighters. At age 39, he still gets annoyed by people throwing themselves at him as if it would impress him.

_"Fer cryin' out loud, I'm married!"_ He grumbles mentally, even as he turns around to face the stumbling woman. It was only pure luck that helped him solve a few seemingly dead end cases, rescuing several people from death by fire and one case that dealt with a bomb. Yet everyone seems to believe he was some kind of hero because of them. To this day, he finds it funny that Justine -- his beloved logical and scientific Justine -- is the one who helped him make sense of all the crazy nonsense going on that has his face plastered everywhere.

(_"People need something or someone to believe in. With Kim's disappearance, we've lost our pillar of strength and hope. You're a wobbly and cracked pillar, but what you do shows that your heart is just as large as Kim's. That's enough to call you hero. Just don't let it go to your head, Brawn."_)

_"Thank you... Brain."_ He feels his muscles relax at the memory, feeling a little more cheerful as he watches the dark red-haired woman approach. Before she can gush into fandom, a familiar looking boy-cut brown haired woman dressed in a police officer's uniform shoves something in to the fanwoman's hand said something he couldn't catch. A look of alarm crosses the younger woman's face and she rushes off. The brown-eyed woman climbs aboard and starts spreading out blueprints on the table.

"What happened and where is everyone?" He asks, wondering what caused the commotion.

"I needed a messenger to call our PR department 'cause the news people are crowding in. The others have been spread thin. We've got more than ten different house fires spread out across Lowerton and Upperton as well as freak winds burying people in their homes in Middleton." He nods and leans over the table to look over the prints, mentally noting the additional familiarity of her name tag which has "Sapphic" engraved on it.

"That sounds exactly the same as the Lowerton Middle School incident from three days ago, the Upperton bridge incident from two days ago, and the Middleton Park incident from yesterday."

"Yeah, I thought you'd recognize it. We'll figure out the connection later, but right now we need you and yours to go rescue people."

"How many?"

"Five of them are trapped up there." Brick frowns as she pulls out the blueprint of the office building and lays it flat on the roof of his car.

"Where?"

"Floor ten. And same as before, we can't get them out. He showed us the images from where he's at with his video camera on his phone and we can't see a way out for him. What or whoever did this has blocked off all escapes routes, even to the windows. We can get in here, here, and here, but after that there's a wall of fire between us and the people." She shows him the images of the inside of the building.

"When are the bombs set to explode?"

"In about half an hour... maybe less."

Brick frowns deeper, realizing that she's right about it being impossible.

(_"People need something or someone to believe in..."_)

"Hey Brick! Why are you in that van?"

_"Or is it..."_

Brick watches the figure jogs lightly towards them dressed in the familiar red hockey jersey and cargos with a skateboard in hand as his brain begins working over time figuring out a plan.

"Tell me was the Team Possible car being exhibited today?" The woman thankfully didn't give him an odd look like most would.

"I think so."

"Alright then, we might have a chance." Brick grins as he waves at Ron Stoppable to pick up the pace.

"What do you plan on doing?"

"Something Kim Possible worthy." He uncaps one of the markers lying around and starts drawing path marks. He pauses for the second right before the marker touches the laminated prints to say,

"Oh, yeah, thanks for being Justine's Maid of Honor, Alex."

He finally figured out why Officer Sapphic looks so familiar.

"Ah-Booya! Told you he'd remember! Show me some of that green Alex!"

"Uh-huh! Pay up!" A certain Rufus the First chimes in gleefuly.

* * *

**A/N:** _Yes, I know. I'm sorry I'm late. I ran into a bit of writers block again with closing out the chapter and am having a bit of trouble with the grammer. Thank Brick-muse for stepping up and helping me out._

_Ah...Alex Sapphic... character owned by Disney but name by someone else. No, I have no plans on including Leslie Bean. I did some searches and can't find the face to match with the name. So, in the intrest of moving on to the next chapter, whoever you all gave that name to will probably be introduce in this fic by a different name._

_In other news, the next chapter should be out sometime during the last week of June at the latest._

_So, now that you've reached the end of this chapter, let me know what you think. Comments and complaints are welcomed. :-)_


	5. Chapter 5 scene 1

**DISCLAIMER: **_All of the Disney characters in this fic are not mine (but their names are... except Alex of course) although I wish they were. I'm also borrowing the idea and storyline from the movie and book by the same name called "Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu". The book is by Takuji Ichikawa and the movie (and later the TV series as well) are both based on the book._ _Hope you enjoy! Comments and complaints welcomed :-)_

**Author's Note:** _Okay So I don't know how many people have really noticed it, but if you look closely enough there's actually two "Alex Sapphic"s. It might be that someone at Disney messed up or whatever, but if you notice in the episode with the visor, Alex walks by with two of her buddies, the Asian looking girl in pink & the Caucasian looking guy wearing an open green shirt over a dark red-ish one, in the scene where Ron tries on the glasses, and then in the next shot, she's walking out the door by herself behind Ron. Now I don't know about you but unless those two have the ability to teleport, there's no way they'd be able to vanish in less than 5 seconds._

_I really can't get the string instruments portion of Coldplay's Viva la Vida out of my head. It's too bad American music usually don't include instrumentals to their songs, 'cause I think the instrumentals by themselves would be a relaxing to listen to. Kinda got my creative juices flowing too._

**Timeline:** _The morning following the freak incidents in the last chapter._

-- -- -- Chapter 5, Scene 1 -- -- --

"Something wrong Sapphic?" Alex starts, coughing and spitting out her mouth full of coffee at the interruption from her musings.

"Dammit JB, I'm getting you a fucking bell!" She hisses, not in the mood for her friend's jokes being that she's been awake since 2 in the morning. "If this shit had gotten on my uniform I'm stapling the shit to your fat ass."

JB, full name Johnny Bradshaw Garrison, one of her good friends from elementary school, practical joker, and her boss. The African American who's a couple inches and pound short of rivaling retired NBA player Shaquille O'Neal in height and weight snickers at her, lifting up the coffee cup in his right hand and gesturing to his seated position next to the coffee machine.

The two friends grew up together and faced the same problems of being the so called "younger" set of twins with less IQ than the "older" set. Her older twin is Tammy Sapphic the Fourth and his older twin is Professor Paul Garrison the Eighth, both of them are engaged to each other and are leading medical doctor and scientist respectively in some field Alex often have to refer to her flash card for considering the seemingly infinite numbers of doctors and scientist from both their families some of which inherited the same name from their elders.

The closeness between them shows when it is not anger but amusement that crosses JB's face at her insult. To them it is simply a game they play and only the two of them are allowed to insult each other. Anyone else would recieve a bloody nose.

"Hey, I've been here the whole time, it's not my fault, your way too fucking skinny ass in La-La Land again."

"Shut up!" Alex huffs as she grabs the paper towels to clean her spill. She refuses to admit to the tall man that she'd let her training slip while she was caught up in her own thoughts.

"So, what's on your mind Alex?"

"I don't accept the conclusion that whoever is behind this is after all the Team Possible members JB." A thoughtful look crosses JB's face.

"What makes you say that?" He asks before drinking from his cup and then setting it down on the table at his left elbow.

"I worked with Ron and Brick on the case this morning."

"I heard. We were lucky that there was a Martial Arts exhibition and that the Denver Broncos' game is going to be here at home instead of in Oakland. Good planning job getting all the people out and getting those two to work together."

"Actually, I wasn't the one who came up with the plan, Brick was." JB raises an eyebrow.

"Brick? As in Brick Flagg? Jock and oblivious Brick Flagg? That Brick Flagg?" Alex shoots him a look of annoyance at the incredulous expression in his tone.

"Yes I mean that Brick Flagg."

"Holy shit the world's about to end!"

"Hey! Don't say that!"

"Oh lighten up, Shorty. I was just joking."

"Some of your jokes have a habit of coming true, this being Middleton and all."

"You worry too much." Alex looks up to make a retort to that but is interrupted by JB as he says, "Case this morning, something happened?"

"Yeah. There was a room covered with newspapers, photos, etc. scattered all over the place. Each one had something to do with Team Possible. There was also a number and a knife driven through the only existing picture of one of the Team Possible members. I talked with the other guys and they all said they came across something similar, except the numbers were the same in all the cases from this morning, but different from each of the past three days."

"What was the number written on it?"

"The one for this morning's attack said 32 and the one from three days ago said 35."

"A countdown. To what?"

"Right now, I'm hoping I'm wrong. I don't know if your remember, but I think either 5 or 6 years ago, Tammy, Justine, and Paul left to work on a topic secret project in Montana but before they left, one or all three of them went to all the buildings listed as part of the freak fire and tornado incidents with their project leader. The buildings that one or all three have been by themselves were untouched all three days. So unless that changes, all of the data that I've gathered is leading me to conclude one thing." She takes a deep breath and looks over at JB who's clenching and unclenching his fist around the arm rests.

"It's a countdown to the murder of their project leader, Wade Load."

--

**A/N:** _Whoever it is that came up with the idea that Bonnie is the most popular girl in school is wrong. Alex Sapphic tops Bonnie any day. This girl has connections all over the school despite just being a background character. And at last count, there's about 51 recurring background characters in Kim's school and they're all friends with each other. I'm not going to use all 51 of them, just people that I see are usually close enough to Alex._

_I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but no worries, I'm not done yet. I just found out that I will be out of range of any type of internet connection until late August. Since I promised you to have a chapter out for this month, I figure I'd post my finished scene for this chapter. This is not a teaser... not in the sense of it being in the middle of the chapter anyways, but it is the start of the chapter. I was hoping to get two scenes finished before my long break but because the second scene got too long and isn't even close to a "conclusion" I had to take it out. Sorry guys. Don't worry though. I'll make it up to you. I'll finish the rest of this chapter and will hopefully have two addition chapters out before the end of August._


End file.
